Information  supplied through Research Project led by Nigel Crompton.

 

Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by):  Anna Walbrook

Gender: Female

Date and Place of Birth: 13th June 1869, Chelsea/ Fulham, London

Date and Place of Death:  1943, Brentford, London

Nationality: British

Childhood: She had 2 brothers.

Parents: MacKinnon & Mary (nee Martin)

Parent’s occupations: Her father was an accountant.

 

Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: N/K

 

Occupation: Writer & journalist. She also worked as Officer in Charge in the rank of Sergeant at the Prana Sparklets works in Edmonton.

 

Place of residence at Gretna: Women’s Police Barracks, Eastriggs

Job title at Gretna: Police Constable in the Women’s Police Force.

 

Marital status: Never married.

Children: None known.

Travels: N/K

Awards/recognitions: N/K

 

Trivia / any other information:

Anna was born on 13 June 1869 into the family of Mackinnon and Mary Walbrook who lived in the Brompton area of London. Anna had two other known siblings, both older brothers. Her father, an accountant by trade, died in 1896 and her mother moved to a property in Battersea.

Anna became a writer & journalist; her brother , William, was also a journalist.

Anna appears on the 1917-1918 valuation roll for HM Factory, Gretna as a member of the Women Police Service but by June 1917 was the Officer in Charge in the rank of Sergeant at the Prana Sparklets works in Edmonton, North London.

Aerators Ltd owned the Prana Sparklets works on Angel Road in Upper Edmonton, N18 and were making for the war effort cartridges and tracer bullets plus fuze and grenade components. Additionally the company made exploder containers and parts for aero engines with a work force of 580 male employees and 823 females. At the height of production Anna had 12 constables under her command, but by late 1919 only one constable remained with her.

She returned to writing and included poetry.

During 1923, Anna was staying with Emily Harburn, who had been an Inspector attached to the WPS headquarters in London. Emily had stayed in the WPS when it became the Women’s Auxiliary Service and in June 1923 became both the training officer and OiC of the officers sent to Cologne to assist both the British and German authorities police the occupied territories. Anna did not travel to Germany.

By the 1939 registration she was still working as a freelance journalist and writer.

Anna passed away during the first quarter of 1943, living in Acton.

 

References

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